By Conrad Mills, Services Marketing Manager, Large Enterprise Operations, Xerox Europe
Have you noticed how so many devices — phones, cars, washing machines, central heating — have to all intents and purposes become computers?
It’s certainly happened to printers. Not too long ago they were ‘dumb’ devices with limited connectivity and functionality. Today they run operating systems and software, have programmable interfaces, are multifunctional, and form an integral part of the IT network.
With this in mind, these multi-functional printers should today really be the remit of IT. They should be treated like any networked device.
But for many organisations, multi-functional printers are still treated as ‘local office equipment’ and are the responsibility of business or facilities managers and this tends to create problems. Companies taking a decentralised approach typically end up with a very expensive support and management burden covering:
- Dozens of suppliers
- A diverse estate of print servers that haven’t been adequately backed up, patched and maintained
- Separate IT and print helpdesks
- Hundreds of device makes and models, often one for every three or four members of staff; yet people still struggle to find a machine that works.
On the other hand, when organisations put responsibility for the printer fleet where it belongs — with the CIO — they unlock great value. They can apply ITIL or other IT management practices to deliver a far more reliable, integrated and secure service. They can create a printer platform designed to support new realities of the workplace, such as mobile working and digitisation of business processes. And of course they can cut costs significantly while delivering a more feature-rich service, not least by simplifying complex print estates and integrating first-line support with the IT service desk.
It’s IT’s job to help your organisation use technology to be more efficient and effective. Don’t hold them back by leaving the printer fleet out of the equation.
P.S. We’ll be talking about this (and more) at the 2013 Gartner Symposium / ITexpo Barcelona, Spain, 11-14 November so if you’re going to be there please call by and see us!
